Will scientists succeed in making a real lightsaber?

The frenzy surrounding the new movie of the Star Wars series, which premiered this week, has encouraged science fiction fans around the globe to imagine having a real-life lightsaber. However, scientists are saying that it’s impossible to have a real lightsaber made of the laser; according to them, creating something distantly similar to the legendary Jedi sword is possible using plasma and lasers.

A team of physicists representing the University of Queensland or UQ are currently busy exploring the chances of crafting real-life lightsabers. Martin Ringbauer, one of the members of the research team, explained that it’s not possible to have a real-life lightsaber made of the laser as in real life the light beams will simply pass through one another.

Ringbauer added that the most significant issue with lightsabers is that light refuses to stop at the end. He said that it’s impossible to stop lasers if they don’t hit a solid structure or get reflected back on themselves by means of a mirror. According to the physicist, a real lightsaber would be of no use when used for giving enemies a tough time.

Ringbauer further explained that light doesn’t like interacting with itself. As a result, when two light beams come in contact, they tend to pass through each other; this action of light will not allow the legendary sword to be useful in real life.

However, James Bennett, another physicist working on this project, said that it’s possible to bring the fictional sword into reality. According to him, for that, one would need to use a combination of plasma and lasers. Bennett added that the weapon one would get as a result, however, would be vaguely similar to the lightsaber we see in Star Wars movies.

Bennett informed that if one takes note of the nerdy story behind these movies, he or she would come to know that lightsaber actually doesn’t contain light. It actually contains the plasma in a loop. Bennett further said that lasers have been used for creating a plasma.

Ringbauer said that these days scientists have access to highly powerful industrial lasers which are capable of cutting through high-quality steel used for purposes such as car manufacturing. He, however, added that he never thought that scientists would manage to get hold of a technology for creating real-life lightsabers.